Summer School

I was thinking about something today that I am sure will go over with your ADD Student like a lead balloon, should you choose to implement it.

For many kids, summer vacation is 10 weeks long or longer. While they’re busy enjoying time off from school, they are actually losing some of what they learned during the school year. And that’s true for all students, not just those with ADHD.

That means that at the beginning of each school year, teachers have to spend a certain amount of time getting the class back up to speed. To me, that”s time wasted; time they could be spending teaching new material.

I have an idea that could help keep your kids a little bit ahead of the pack – a little bit of summer school all summer long.

I’m not talking about actual summer school. What I mean is keeping a little bit of school in the weekly routine at home.

Reading is one of the biggest areas of loss for most kids, so building reading into the summer is a good place to start.

Many libraries have summer reading programs for younger kids, and that’s a great place to start.

For older kids, you may have to either tie reading to a reward system or relax your idea of approved reading.

I think, though, that you ought to go beyond reading for extra learning. Math or science might be a good second choice; you know your child well enough to know where they could use extra help.

Take a look at community education programs or local colleges. Many offer summer programs for kids.

At the very least, go back through the work they did during the school year and turn some of that into a worksheet. It could be as simple as “reassigning” the same homework again. Once or twice a week should help.

Give it a try and see what happens. Wouldn’t it be great to start the new school year off ahead of the game?